Cooking is one of my favorite things in the world. Food is exciting and has infinite possibilities. I love making elaborate meals, hosting parties for friends and family, and taking people dinner. I am learning that harder is not necessarily smarter and I'm trying to convince my husband that beans and vegetables are awesome. vegetarian foods, blending unlikely flavors, themed dinners, hors d'oeurves, desserts with fruit, chai-spiced anything, sweet/salty foods, goodie boxes for friends/family at christmastime My mom did once a month cooking and our favorite meals were: marinated pork chops, porcupine balls, and chicken a la king. Mom also made a really good dream whip cake. Chex party mix was a tradition and I would always try to stash it after Christmas and eat a little at a time...unsucessfully. I am famous for whipping up a gourmet dinner when there is "nothing" in the kitchen. My vegetable tart recipe that made my husband "almost" want to be vegetarian. I made cookbooks for my friends and family this year with my favorite recipes and they loved it. Very early in my cooking days, I discovered my family's oven had broken right when I was putting brownies in to bake. I decided to try our toaster oven instead. I actually ate a few, but they turned out more like a burned chewy biscotti. It wasn't my fault!